2. amps-preamps
  3. 1381392517

New KT150 tubes?

Has anyone any experience with these pretty new tubes. There are already one or 2 amps I know of, that use them. The review of one of these amps in a UK magazine suggested they were a little warmer and more natural sounding than the nearly new KT120's

The article also suggested they were a straight swap for KT120 based amps, with no adjustment necessary. They are more than twice the cost of KT120's, but still not too costly compared with NOS tubes. I know changing from KT88's or 90's to 120's. did require some amp modification. I have an ARC reference 75 and might want to try the new tubes at some point, ARC don't seem to have a customer E-mail service, to ask the question
david12
andrewrona
24 posts
 
Tsushima 1 is your T2000 a mk1 version .
tsushima1
1,165 posts
 
@Andrewrona, I was conveying the information from the position of a somewhat frustrated ARC owner, A form of self flagellation if you will!
undertow
1,033 posts
 
Frustrating is right.

I will start with I have not heard KT150's yet, and don't own an Audio Research amp...

I do have an amp that will work with them however.

But I will say this thread with Audio Research probably went way over the top with ARC owners being way too concerned, and way less about the KT-150.

I believe Audio Research is probably the biggest Tube manufacturer still in the united states, maybe the world.

My answer to why Audio Research has not "Approved" this tube is by far simpler than what is being talked about here...

They are afraid far less about the KT150 killing YOUR amp than they are about it Killing their Current inventory when nobody wants to buy the 10,000 or who knows how many KT-120 matched tubes they already have in inventory ready to go!

As soon as they say 'GO' on the KT-150 officially on the website or wherever who is going to buy all those already KT-120 AR certified sets sitting on the shelf?

Just something to think about.
wolf_garcia
6,628 posts
 
I realize you meant AR is one of the biggest tube "users" in the world, but I'd be willing to bet Fender makes their tube inventory look minuscule. Guitar amp companies don't seem to use large tubes like 120s and 150s much if at all (bass amps, with a few exceptions like the mighty Ampeg SVT, are mostly SS) beyond EL34s, EL84s, 6L6s and 6V6s...those are the power tubes of choice generally, and they use a LOT of 'em. I would buy another set of 120s in a heartbeat and likely should since mine are getting a little worn and 150s cost about twice as much...although I did see a quad for under 300 clams recently...hmm....
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Wolf, .... Undertow makes an interesting point, but ... the KT-150 will list for twice the price of the KT-120. I am dubious that ARC will get stuck with thousands of KT-120 tubes even if the KT-150s are approved for use in the current product offerings.

I've used approximately 75% of the tube life of my KT-120s. I may spring for 2 quads of KT-150s, but not from ARC. Too damn expensive. The good news is I understand that the KT-150s have a life span of 4000 hours.
More to discover